


Jealousy

by SketchLockwood



Category: The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman, The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 02:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9051694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SketchLockwood/pseuds/SketchLockwood
Summary: I just came up with this on a a whim. Started writing yesterday and this is what's my mind came up with.It's Christmas 1477Edward has been hunting, Elizabeth and the girls have remained at the palace in the company of Edwards now resident mistress 'Jane' Shore.





	

Elizabeth was sulky. She would not admit that, of course. Yet it was apparent. They all sat, their needles stitching at tapestries. Elizabeth had never been one for sewing. She had never much enjoyed it, even when it had been expressed to her by so many when she joined the court that ladies of breeding should know how to sew. Of course, she had known since she was young. Her mother would not have missed such an opportunity,would not have neglected her duty enough to forget to teach her daughters this simple skill. That had not meant Elizabeth had enjoyed it, not even when if only to spite the Neville's she had so frequently sewn her hands had often bled. 

Bled and Ned had shouted at her for her stupidity. 

Now, it was time she sat with her daughters before the fire. Her daughters, her ladies and the woman who was no more welcome than the devil himself. Jane Shore, Elizabeth could not even look at the woman except with disgust. Her husbands infidelities had never come as a surprise to her. Never shocked her in the slightest. She had expected he would have his whores, knew he would perhaps take a mistress. No, it was not that not that he flaunted her so willingly across the court that bothered her. If he so wished to have her he could, and if his mistress was so willing to risk her life so once in while Elizabeth may not have to fall pregnant with his child? Then so be it. What had so unsettled Elizabeth was not the act her husband committed, but the woman with whom he chose to lie. His standards Elizabeth had seen were dropping. Now she was forced to spend time entertaining the fancies of a common tart. Entertaining such fancies and worse! Elizabeth had been forced to observe the fact that Jane's own work was better than the queens. That had been a bitter pill and with an ounce of stubbornness she had thrown the tapestry aside, just skimming the fire. "It is no good, you should start again and this time, mistress Shore, if you intend to sew for the king's pleasure, then you should put effort into it."

"I do not sew for the king's pleasure-"

"You cannot afford to buy him gold, nor jewels, nor fabrics, nor other luxuries he may wish this christmas." Elizabeth scoffed. "I assume you will then have no alternative but to stitch him something."She had mocked. Yet it had been false mockery. Elizabeth had known the truth of it. This woman, this whore, had more money at her disposal than Elizabeth herself. And all because her husband, her Edward, gave her all she could ask for and more. 

It was for that thought that she did not jump to her feet when the door opened, and her husband strolled in, ermine cloak across his shoulders. She had rolled her eyes as she saw Jane blush with the look of him. In truth Elizabeth could not blame her, for as a younger woman, she too would have fallen for the rugged look her husband gave. His stubble lined jaw, his crooked cap showing messed hair and his appearance as a man not just returned from a winters hunt but of one dragged through hell. Yet... Elizabeth thought with a smirk, when she had been a younger woman, her husband had been a man so handsome that she had rejoiced when he boasted his exclusivity to her. Yes she had in truth objectified his every limb. She had looked at him with a desire to equal his own. Now? Now he was less than a shadow of that figure. 

"Papa!" Bess had jumped to her feet, racing her sisters to his side. "How was the hunt?" 

"Slow, and less thrilling than perhaps it could have been. For something was missing." Elizabeth had looked down, hiding her irritation as her husbands eyes had locked with his whores. That was why she had not seen him, why she screamed as in one move he lifted her into his arms, his lips attacking hers until he broke away, breathless. "Wench, why were you not with me?" 

"I...I... Ned. Mmm" She soothed, smiling as his cradling hand groped her breast. 

"Yes?" 

"I did not think my lord wished me to be there."

"Then my lady if I may?" She nodded. "You did not think." 

"Ned I-"

"I will not hear excuses, woman." 

"Ned." She whispered between teeth. "Children." 

"Hmm? Oh, yes." He smiled softly as he looked to them. "Jane, I assume you have no problem spending time with my daughters? I am sure they can learn much from you." 


End file.
